The Collaborative International Dictionary
Apprehend \Ap`pre*hend"\ ([a^]p`pr[-e]*h[e^]nd"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Apprehended; p. pr. & vb. n. Apprehending.] [L. apprehendere; ad + prehendere to lay hold of, seize; prae before + -hendere (used only in comp.); akin to Gr. chanda`nein to hold, contain, and E. get: cf. F. appr['e]hender. See Prehensile, Get.]
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To take or seize; to take hold of. [Archaic]
We have two hands to apprehend it.
--Jer. Taylor. Hence: To take or seize (a person) by legal process; to arrest; as, to apprehend a criminal.
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To take hold of with the understanding, that is, to conceive in the mind; to become cognizant of; to understand; to recognize; to consider.
This suspicion of Earl Reimund, though at first but a buzz, soon got a sting in the king's head, and he violently apprehended it.
--Fuller.The eternal laws, such as the heroic age apprehended them.
--Gladstone. -
To know or learn with certainty. [Obs.]
G. You are too much distrustful of my truth. E. Then you must give me leave to apprehend The means and manner how.
--Beau. & Fl. -
To anticipate; esp., to anticipate with anxiety, dread, or fear; to fear.
The opposition had more reason than the king to apprehend violence.
--Macaulay.Syn: To catch; seize; arrest; detain; capture; conceive; understand; imagine; believe; fear; dread.
Usage: To Apprehend, Comprehend. These words come into comparison as describing acts of the mind. Apprehend denotes the laying hold of a thing mentally, so as to understand it clearly, at least in part. Comprehend denotes the embracing or understanding it in all its compass and extent. We may apprehended many truths which we do not comprehend. The very idea of God supposes that he may be apprehended, though not comprehended, by rational beings. ``We may apprehended much of Shakespeare's aim and intention in the character of Hamlet or King Lear; but few will claim that they have comprehended all that is embraced in these characters.''
--Trench.
Wiktionary
n. An act by which something is apprehended. vb. (present participle of apprehend English)
Usage examples of "apprehending".
The table, for example, that is the perceptual object that we are both apprehending at the same time is the table that you and I can lift together and move to another part of the room.
Here as there the apprehension of the object is not only distinct from, but also separate from, any judgment we may make about whether the object we are apprehending really exists.
The philosopher, who considered the system of polytheism as a composition of human fraud and error, could disguise a smile of contempt under the mask of devotion, without apprehending that either the mockery, or the compliance, would expose him to the resentment of any invisible, or, as he conceived them, imaginary powers.
They all settled in, for the first time apprehending the loveliness of the world about them.
Latins should, as participators, enjoy the prosperity of the Roman people, rather than that they should be constantly either apprehending or suffering the demolition of their town and the devastations of their lands, which they suffered formerly in the reign of Ancus, afterwards in the reign of his own father.
Quickly apprehending a perpetrator of a violent crime-rape, homicide, child abduction-is a major goal of all law enforcement agencies.
It may also include investigative recommendations for interrogating or interviewing, identifying, and apprehending the offender.
Although the interviews were conducted with murderers already convicted and incarcerated, we believe that our observations provide insights for interviewing suspects during the process of apprehending a killer.
Thus Pheidias wrought the Zeus upon no model among things of sense but by apprehending what form Zeus must take if he chose to become manifest to sight.
And Barter, the unreasoning instrument of Fate, was not to know that the apprehending of a couple of traitorous Jack Presbyters was of small account to Colonel Penruddock by comparison with the satisfaction of the blood-feud between himself and the House of Lisle.
To be candid, I was for the passage of the law, not apprehending at the time that it would produce such inconvenience to the armies in the field as you now cause me to fear.